Eni in Mexico amid new open market

MEXICO CITY, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Italian energy company Eni said Tuesday its top executive is in Mexico City to discuss work with public oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, known also as Pemex.

Chief Executive Officer Paolo Scaroni met with Emilio Lozoya Austin, his counterpart at Pemex, and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto while Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta was on an official state visit to Mexico.

Eni said it inaugurated a representative office in Mexico City and discussed working with Pemex.

"In particular, the parties discussed future strategic partnerships in the upstream sector of the country," the Italian company said in a statement.

Pena Nieto proposed privatizing the national energy sector in August and Mexican lawmakers late last year approved the measure that opened the energy sector up to private investors, ending a monopoly for Pemex. Mexico nationalized the energy sector in the 1930s.

There was no statement on the meeting with Eni from Pemex.

The U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports Mexican oil production declined from 2004 to 2009 because of natural maturation.